To turn off an iPhone 16 or iPhone 17, press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear, then drag the power off slider to the right. If the buttons are hard to press, go to Settings > General > Shut Down, and if the screen is frozen, force restart the phone instead.
These steps cover iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models, iPhone Air, and other iPhones with Face ID running iOS 27, the current version. Older iPhones with a Home button use different buttons, which are covered in their own section below.
Which method should you use?
| Your situation | Best method |
|---|---|
| Phone works normally | Side button and volume button |
| A button is broken or a case blocks it | Settings > General > Shut Down, or Control Center |
| Screen is frozen or will not respond to touch | Force restart |
| Phone works but acts strangely | Turn it off, wait, and turn it back on |
- Find the side button on the right edge of the phone and the volume up and volume down buttons on the left. The Action button (left side, above the volume buttons) and Camera Control (right side, below the side button) do not turn the phone off.
- Press and hold the side button and either volume button at the same time.
- Let go of both buttons as soon as the sliders appear on the screen. You will see a slide to power off slider at the top and an Emergency Call slider lower down.
- Drag the power off slider from left to right. The screen goes black.
- Wait about 30 seconds so the phone can finish shutting down before you plug it in, put it away, or turn it back on.
Release the buttons once the sliders show up. If you keep holding them, the iPhone can start an Emergency SOS countdown with a loud alarm, and when the countdown ends it can call emergency services. If that happens by accident, let go of the buttons and cancel the countdown on the screen. If a call does connect, stay on the line and tell the dispatcher it was an accident. Apple explains how Emergency SOS works. If the countdown keeps starting when you do not want it, you can turn off the Emergency SOS button shortcuts in Settings.
A few mix-ups happen often with this button combination:
- Siri opens: you held only the side button. Add a volume button.
- A screenshot appears: you pressed the side button and volume up briefly. Hold them longer, until the sliders appear.
- The screen only locks: a short press of the side button locks the phone, but it keeps running.
This is the method to use when a button is broken, stuck, or covered by a thick case. The touchscreen must work.
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap General.
- Scroll to the bottom and tap Shut Down. The power off slider appears at the top of the screen.
- Drag the slider to the right. The phone turns off.
Turn off an iPhone from Control Center
- Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to open Control Center.
- Touch and hold the power icon in the top-right corner of Control Center.
- When the shutdown screen appears, drag the power off slider to the right.
If you do not see the power icon, use the Settings method instead. Apple’s Turn iPhone on or off guide lists the buttons, Settings, and Control Center as the three ways to shut down.
Turn the iPhone back on
- Press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.
- Release the button and wait for the Lock Screen.
- Enter your passcode. Face ID does not unlock the phone until you have entered the passcode once after it starts. If your carrier SIM has a PIN, the phone asks for that too.
If the phone does not turn on, go to the troubleshooting section below.
How to force restart a frozen iPhone 16 or iPhone 17
Use a force restart when the screen will not respond, an app has locked up the whole phone, or you cannot reach the power off slider. Press each volume button quickly, one after the other. Do not hold them together.
- Press and quickly release the volume up button.
- Press and quickly release the volume down button.
- Press and hold the side button. Keep holding even if the power off slider appears.
- Release the side button when the Apple logo appears. This can take longer than 10 seconds.
The phone then starts up normally and asks for your passcode. This is the same sequence shown in Apple’s force restart guide.
Keep these points in mind:
- A force restart turns the phone back on. It does not leave the iPhone powered off. Once the screen works again, use a normal shutdown if you want the phone off.
- A force restart is not a factory reset. Your photos, apps, messages, and settings stay on the phone. Unsaved work inside an open app can be lost.
- If only one app is frozen and the rest of the phone works, close and restart that app first.
If “hard reset” is the term you searched for, here’s the difference between a force restart and a factory reset, so you know which one you need.
AssistiveTouch puts a floating menu button on the screen that can do some jobs of the hardware buttons, including a restart. Restart is one of its menu actions, as the AssistiveTouch support article shows.
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch and turn on AssistiveTouch.
- Tap the floating AssistiveTouch button.
- Tap Device, then More, then Restart.
- Tap Restart to confirm. The phone turns off and back on by itself.
If Restart is not in the menu, add it with Customize Top Level Menu on the AssistiveTouch settings screen. Restart is the safer choice when the side button is completely dead, because a phone that is shut down normally needs the side button to turn back on. AssistiveTouch can also lock the phone and take screenshots, as covered in how to take a screenshot or lock iPhone without the power button.
The Settings and Control Center methods above work the same way on these models. The buttons are different, as shown in the table below and in Apple’s restart instructions and black-screen troubleshooting.
| Model | Turn off | Force restart |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 8, iPhone SE (2nd or 3rd generation) | Hold the side button until the slider appears, then drag it | Quickly press volume up, quickly press volume down, then hold the side button until the Apple logo appears |
| iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus | Hold the side button until the slider appears, then drag it | Hold the side button and volume down together until the Apple logo appears |
| iPhone 6s and earlier, iPhone SE (1st generation) | Hold the side or top button until the slider appears, then drag it | Hold the Home button and the side or top button together until the Apple logo appears, about 10 seconds |
To turn any of these phones back on, hold the side or top button until the Apple logo appears.
Troubleshooting
The phone will not turn back on or the screen stays black
Connect the iPhone to a working charger and leave it for one hour, then try the side button again. If you see a low-battery icon, charge it for about 30 minutes or until it starts on its own. If it still shows nothing, try the force restart above while it is connected to power. If none of this helps, the phone may need service from Apple or an authorized provider.
On an iPad that stays stuck on the Apple logo even after a force restart and recovery mode, the last-resort fix is to put the iPad in DFU mode and restore it.
The force restart does nothing
The most common mistake is holding the volume buttons. Tap volume up, tap volume down, then hold only the side button and keep holding past the slider until the logo appears. Remove a tight case if it makes the buttons hard to press fully.
The touchscreen is cracked or broken
Without a working screen, you cannot drag the power off slider, and Settings and Control Center are out of reach. A force restart still works because it uses only the buttons, but it brings the phone back on rather than leaving it off. A damaged display needs repair; do not erase the phone just to try to power it down.
The phone keeps freezing after a restart
Repeated freezes can come from very low storage, a crashing app, an outdated iOS version, or a phone that has overheated. Free up space, update apps and iOS, and let a hot phone cool down. If problems continue, read what the iPhone reset options do before you try anything that erases data.
Frequently asked questions
Is restarting the same as turning off?
No. A restart turns the phone off and back on in one go. Turning off leaves it off until you hold the side button. To restart without AssistiveTouch, turn the phone off, wait about 30 seconds, and turn it back on. Try a normal restart first when something is not working, and a force restart only when the phone does not respond.
Will turning off or force restarting my iPhone delete anything?
No. Neither one erases your data. Only Erase All Content and Settings wipes the phone. If you are selling or giving away the phone, powering it off does not remove your Apple Account or personal data.
Why does my iPhone open Siri instead of shutting down?
On Face ID iPhones, holding the side button alone activates Siri. Hold a volume button at the same time to get the sliders. You do not need to turn Siri off.
Can I turn off an iPhone without touching the screen?
Not completely. Every normal shutdown method ends with dragging a slider on the screen. With only the buttons, the most you can do is a force restart, which turns the phone back on afterward. If you only want the phone to stop interrupting you rather than be off, Do Not Disturb silences calls and notifications while it keeps running.
My iPhone shows SOS after I turn it back on. What now?
SOS in the status bar means the phone has no regular cellular service but can still make emergency calls. Work through these SOS connection fixes.
Setting up a new phone after turning it on? This iPhone 17 startup guide walks through the first screens.
Matthew Burleigh is the founder, head writer, and editor of Solve Your Tech, which he launched in 2012. He has written technology tutorials since 2008 and worked in IT since 2003, including small-business support, IT management, and consulting. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from Arizona State University.
Matthew writes practical guides for Windows, iPhone and iPad, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Google apps, and Android. Solve Your Tech’s guides are checked step by step against the device or app maker’s own documentation and tested on his own devices whenever he has the hardware or software, with clear steps, sources, and update dates.
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